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Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 16, Issue 2, Article 10 (Dec., 2015) |
Preservice science teachers’ attitudes towards chemistry and misconceptions about chemical kinetics*
Aylin ÇAM1, Mustafa Sami TOPÇU2 and Yusuf SÜLÜN3
1,3Department of Elementary Education, Faculty of Education,
Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University, 48000, Muğla, TURKEY
2Department of Elementary Education, Faculty of Education,
Yıldız Technical University, 34210, Istanbul, TURKEY1Corresponding author. Email: aylincam@gmail.com
Received 14 Jul., 2015
Revised 29 Dec., 2015
The present study investigates preservice science teachers’ attitudes towards chemistry; their misconceptions about chemical kinetics; and relationships between pre-service science teachers’ attitudes toward chemistry and misconceptions about chemical kinetics were examined. The sample of this study consisted of 81 freshman pre-service science teachers (female 42, male 39) at a public university in the southwest part of Turkey. The result of the study demonstrated that pre-service science teachers’ attitudes towards chemistry were at medium level and preservice science teachers had some misconceptions about chemical kinetics. There is not a statistically significant relationship between preservice science teachers’ attitudes towards chemistry and their misconceptions about chemical kinetics. Also, the result of this study revealed that there is not a statistically significant difference in understanding of the chemical kinetics concepts between pre-service science teachers having high and low attitudes.
Keywords:Attitudes towards chemistry, chemical kinetics, misconceptions, preservice science teachers
*Some parts of the paper were presented at 21. National Educational Sciences Congress [21. Ulusal Eğitim Bilimleri Kongresi], Istanbul, Turkey, 12-14 September.
